Please submit your homework, and please take out your Writer’s Notebook. Also, please pick up the handouts in the front of the room.

We will begin promptly. Disney Music

Wednesday, October 21st, 2015

Historical Criticism PresentationsYou and your group has fi ve minutes to prepare for your presentation. Everyone will need to take out paper in order to take notes. All of you are RESPONSIBLE for this information.

Poetry Analysis Prompt PracticePlease take out a pen or pencil and a highlighter.

1st Round: Please stand up with your poetry analysis prompt and a pen. Put your hand up. You are going to walk around the room until the music stops. Find a partner. Give them a high five and share with them your Big Question, Little Question, and Background Information. If you have differences of opinions, please come to a consensus. 2nd Round: When the music starts again, start walking around the room again until the music stops. When the music stops, please find a partner. Give them a high five and share with them your working thesis statement and outline. Make sure your partner explains their outline thoroughly. You should understand their thought process. Moving Music

Stand up, Hand up, Pair up

Friday, October 23rd, 2015Please take out your Writer’s Notebook, Hamlet texts, and a pen or pencil. We will begin promptly.

Entrance Music

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Misogyny in William

Shakespeare’s Hamlet

Movie Clip

How is the female character portrayed within this clip? Please utilize specific examples to support your assertion.

Do you think this portrayal is accurate and fair? Why or Why not? Please explain your answer thoroughly.

Warm – up: QuickWrite

Please stand up with your quick write. On a scale from very fair to very unfair, please put yourself

on the human continuum. When directed, please share your answer with your partner.

Please explain your answer thoroughly.

Human Continuum Activity

Think/Pair/Share:

Based upon your reading of Act I, how would you characterize Ophelia? How would you characterize Gertrude? Please support your assertions with evidence from the text.

Ophelia and Gertrude: Take out your copy of Hamlet

What is Misogyny? What does misogyny look like?

Within your group, please discuss this term. Please create a working definition as well as a real world example that illustrates this term.

What is Misogyny?

It is the hatred or dislike of women. Misogyny can be manifested in numerous ways, including sexual discrimination, vilification of women, violence against women, and sexual objectification of women.

To The Text: You will need your Hamlet scripts! • Please take out the script copy of Hamlet and turn to page 10. • In Act I, Scene II, we see Hamlet relay an emotional soliloquy where he

focuses on his mother’s recent actions. Hamlet's Act I, Scene II solioquy• Critically examine this selection of text for hints of misogyny. • What aspects of this soliloquy could be considered misogynistic? Why?

Explain thoroughly. • Then, examine Act I, Scene III where we first meet Ophelia. Act I, Scene III• What aspects of this scene could be considered misogynistic? Why?

Explain thoroughly.

Monday, October 26th, 2015Please take out a clean sheet of paper and a pen or pencil. We will begin promptly.

Learning Targets: The student will…• Demonstrate knowledge and understanding

of Act II of Hamlet by creating well – developed responses to open – ended questions on an assessment.

• Examine the motif of misogyny within William Shakespeare’s Hamlet by analyzing the characterization of Gertrude and Ophelia within Act I.

After the Quiz…

• Please take out your Hamlet text and open up to Act I, Scene III. • Then, please examine Act I, Scene III where we first meet Ophelia for

the motif of misogyny. Carefully examine her exchange between her father and her brother. Act I, Scene III

• What aspects of this scene could be considered misogynistic? Why? Explain thoroughly with specific textual references.

What significant events occurred around the time this play was published? Be specific.

Due to these events, what do you think was generally on the minds of the people who were the intended audience of this play? Be specific.

Historical Lens: Please take out your cell phones

What is the reason for the misogyny in Hamlet? Critics have speculated that it is due to: • End of Elizabeth’s reign – ushering in a king (patriarchal universe)• Political misogyny prevalent at the time period• Ambivalent, ambiguous portrayals of Elizabeth (both of the queen

and of women)

Women in England during Shakespeare’s Time

• Had very limited rights: they were denied

formal education and the chance to hold public

office or other professions such as law, medicine,

etc.

• Childbearing was considered a great honor

• Common belief that women always needed someone to look after them

• No woman could vote.

• Although denied a formal education,

many women of the higher class in this time period were more

educated than previous generations due to the use of private tutors.

• Single women (of a certain age) often accused of being witches/looked upon with suspicion

• An unmarried woman could not inherit property and sign contracts.

Why do we have to consider the misogyny

exhibited within the play before analyzing Hamlet’s

women?

Misogyny is a Motif in Hamlet• Shattered by his mother's repugnant decision to marry

Claudius so soon after her husband's death, Hamlet becomes extremely cynical, even neurotic, about women in general, showing a particular obsession with what he perceives to be a connection between female sexuality and moral corruption.

• This motif of misogyny, or hatred of women, occurs only sporadically throughout the play, but it is an important inhibiting factor in Hamlet's relationships with Ophelia and Gertrude. He urges Ophelia to go to a nunnery rather than experience the corruptions of sexuality and exclaims of Gertrude, "Frailty, thy name is woman."

Characterization: Insight into character motivationsAs a widow, Gertrude would have left the court and been relegated to a small house as

the dowager queen.A queen dowager, dowager queen or queen mother is a title or status generally

held by the widow of a king. Its full meaning is clear from the two words from which it is composed: queen indicates someone who served as queen consort (i.e. wife of a king), while dowager indicates a woman who holds the title from her deceased husband. Marrying Claudius, the new king, allows her to maintain her title as queen. What does this say about her character?Ophelia was a young, unmarried woman who is completely dependent on her father. She

is expected to be obedient and reject Hamlet’s advances. She also reports to her father about Hamlet’s behavior. Although she is desperate to be loyal to Hamlet, she must obey Polonius. Have Hamlet and Ophelia consummated their relationship? How would this affect her status and her state of mind?

Ophelia

Ophelia:

• Dependent on men to tell her how to behave • Used by the men around her• Polonius' daughter and spy• Laertes' sister who is under his control and will do what

he asks• Hamlets' lover: she will perform her wifely duties even

though she is not betrothed

She is viewed as a Creature of Lack

• Act 3, Scene 2- When Hamlet twists

Ophelia’s words/degrades her with a sexual innuendoOphelia: “I think nothing, my lord”

Hamlet: “That’s a fair thought to lie between a maid’s legs.”

Ophelia: “What is, my lord?”

Hamlet: “Nothing.”

Ophelia: “You are merry, my lord.”

• Act 4, Scene 5- Ophelia’s gone mad and

the Gentleman insists her speech doesn’t matterGentleman: “Her speech is nothing /Yet the unshaped

Use of it doth move the hearers to collection.”

• Ophelia’s thoughts mean nothing in the

public terms defined by the court

• She’s deprived of thought, sexuality, and language

• When she drowns, Ophelia wears virginal white (lack

of color) which contrasts with Hamlet’s “suits of solemn black.”

She is viewed as a woman drove insane• Ophelia initially appears “shaped

to conform to external demands, to reflect others desires” (406): she is Laertes’ “angel,” Polonius’ “commodity” (407), and Hamlet’s “spectre of his psychic fears” (410). While the conflicting messages from these male/masculine sources damage Ophelia’s psychological identity, their sudden absence provokes her mental destruction.

• Ophelia is objectified by the other characters in the play, becomes more of a possession than a character.

• Therefore, mental deterioration is equated with individual identity in a woman.

Ophelia suffers from Melancholy

• Ophelia’s madness would clinically be characterized in Elizabethan times as “female love melancholy”

• Melancholy was fashionable among men at this time. It was associated with “intellectual and imaginative genius.”

• Yet, among women, this was seen as an emotional disease.

She is the victim of double standards•Hamlet ‘s past can be read through his father, his

education, and his relationship with his friends•Recent feminist critics see the lack of Ophelia’s past as representative of a double standard•“We can imagine Hamlet’s story without Ophelia, but Ophelia literally has no storywithout Hamlet.”•In Act 1 Scene 3, Polonius sends Laertes off urging him to use his judgment and learn through error•But he does not put that trust in Ophelia’s conviction of Hamlet’s love

Polonius to Ophelia: “Affection, puh! You speak like a greengirl…think yourself a baby That you have ta’en thesetenders for true pay, which are not sterling…”

•Ophelia was never given the chance to develop an independent conscience

“…stifled is she by the authority of the male world.”

Contrast of Polonius’s Advice Given to Laertes and OpheliaAdvice to Laertes:

•Don’t be too quick to act on what you think

•Once you’re in a fight, hold your own

•Clothes make the man so spend money on clothes

•Once you’ve found trustworthy friends, hold on to them (He’s trusted to make his own decisions)

•ABOVE ALL, Be true to yourself

Advice to Ophelia:

•Believe you’re a foolish little baby

•Give yourself more respect or you’ll make me a fool: either means will give him a grandchild, or make him a laughingstock.

•Hamlet’s vows are traps for birds

•Don’t Mistake Hamlet’s vows as true love

•Don’t waste your time with him

ABOVE ALL, listen to Polonius

Polonius and Laertes

• They are the two most influential defining forces in her life

• Before their interference, she saw Hamlet as innocent and holy, and she loves Hamlet

• Then, Polonius and Laertes both warn her about his love. She begins to see that love may not be so innocent.

• When her own thoughts of Hamlet’s love are replaced by her father’s beliefs, she does not know what to believe. “I do not know, my lord, what I should believe.”

• When her brother and father present a harsh belief that Hamlet may not have good intentions, she realizes it is a frightening world. She seeks refuge in the domestic role that women have been assigned to for centuries and becomes passive, only obeying her father and brother.

Ophelia's Madnessversus Hamlet's Madness:

In sum, Hamlet's madness protects and expresses his identity while Ophelia's reflects a crushed ego.

Ophelia’s Symbolism:

The symbolism in her drowning is itself an emblem of the inner conflict which drove her to madness. She drowns in her “fantastic garlands,” woven of buttercups, daisies, nettles, and long purples, flowers that represent her innocence, pain, and sexuality, woven together here in madness as she had been unable to do in her life.

• Rosemary was often given as a token of remembrance, and it was distributed and worn at weddings as well as at funerals.

• Pansies is a symbol for thought, of pensiveness, and of grief. • Fennel designates flattery, or cajolery and deceit. • Columbine is a symbol for ingratitude• Daisy represents faithlessness and dissembling • Rue is a symbol of repentance, and it was a bitter plant with medicinal

qualities.

Gertrude

Gertrude• The Gertrude who does emerge clearly in Hamlet is a woman defined by her

desire for station and affection as well as by her tendency to use men to fulfill her instinct for self preservation – which, of course, makes her very dependent on the men in her life. She is at her best in social situations when her natural grace and charm seem to indicate a rich, rounded personality. At times, it seems that her grace and charm are her only characteristics, and her reliance on men appears to be her sole way of capitalizing on her abilities.

• On the other hand, Gertrude is strong enough to manipulate the men around her but its the men around her that accidentally lead her to her demise.  Ophelia is weak and her innocence and dependence on men destroy her also.  the difference is the men in Ophelia's life love her but their love and repression cause her insanity and suicide.  but in both cases these women are dependent on the men in their lives who though provide them meaning in their life, cause their deaths as well

The Gibson Hamlet and (Too)Close Gertrude:

The Zeffirelli production draws on Freud's interpretation of the play:

• According to Freud, Hamlet cannot easily avenge his father's death because he has an Oedipus complex

• According to Freud, he wishes (or wished) to kill his father and to sleep with his mother

• Thus, this is the reason he cannot bring himself to act against the man who has done what he himself wanted to do

Freud’s Take on Hamlet and Gertrude:

Gertrude, like Ophelia, is a projection of Hamlet's vision of himself:

• In attacking Gertrude's incestuous marriage, Hamlet is attacking an aspect of himself: his strong feelings for her, which he has not yet come to terms with.

As with Ophelia, Gertrude is the receptacle of Hamlet's double image of himself as ideal and depraved.

This is why it is so important for him that she repent and change.

In the end, does Gertrude redeem

herself? Did she knowingly take the cup, or did she fall victim to circumstance?

What do these women/relationships

reveal about Hamlet?